Editorials
[TV Terrors] “The Elvira Show” Was Cancelled By CBS Before It Even Aired
Horror and science fiction have always been a part of the television canvas, and constant attempts have been made over the years to produce classic entertainment. Some have fallen by the wayside, while others became mainstream phenomena. With “TV Terrors,” we take a look back at the many genre efforts from the 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s, exploring some shows that became cult classics, and others that sank in to obscurity.
“The Elvira Show” was filmed in 1993 for CBS… but never aired
The past three years have seen a major resurgence of the Mistress of the Dark that we know as Elvira. Elvira has always had that wonderful ability to disappear for a few years, re-emerge in full force for a long time and creep back in to the shadows for a little bit. It’s pretty much why everyone loves her. Cassandra Peterson has turned the character into a bona fide franchise, especially in the digital age, selling branded merchandise, her own book, and even collectible dolls from Funko.
In the cable television days and video age, Elvira was an—ahem–asset you saw often, and one of my earliest memories of the horror host came through her introductions to movies on television and appearances on MTV. I could go on and on about how her 1988 movie “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark” is a childhood favorite of mine, but I digress.
That said, as many know, her 1988 movie was intended as a back door pilot for a potential sitcom on NBC, and I can think of no one better suited for their own sitcom than Elvira. Spending years in development, Elvira finally got her wish in 1993, when she filmed her very own pilot for the CBS Network. Her show entitled “The Elvira Show” (starring Elvira as herself!) offered a unique spin on the sitcom, with a horror based premise less about family values and more about Elvira’s razor sharp wit, rapid fire double entendres, and huge pair of—uh—eyes.
Officer: This is a bust!
Elvira (pointing at her cleavage): “No, this is a bust!”
Loosely set after the events of the movie, Elvira moves again, this time to Manhattan Kansas where she ends up in another conservative small town. There, she resides with her fun aunt Minerva (who also happens to be a quirky witch), and their smart mouthed cat named Renfield. Elvira hides in plain sight pretending to read fortunes and create potions for the superstitious folks in town, but things get complicated when long lost niece Paige is dropped off at the house and forced to live with her aunts.
After her parent died, she was sent to live with nuns on an island, and then—dropped off at the door for some reason. As a conservative religious girl, Paige finds herself struggling to keep up with their antics, especially as she begins to realize she might have powers of her very own. She has to come to her family’s aide when Elvira accidentally casts a spell on a hunky local police officer.
“The Elvira Show” was pretty much a series intended for the fans, and hoping to breed a new audience that could appreciate the “Three’s Company” shaded humor filled with innuendos, and winks at the audience here and there. Katherine Helmond (“Soap,” “Who’s the Boss?”) is kind of like an older Elvira, but one who isn’t as out there as her long lost niece. The pilot only seems to have a little bit of money to play with, so a majority of the episode’s events take place in the house and the house alone.
With so much set up and potential, you assume the show would have too many storylines for one episode, but there’s shockingly very little to be had. A majority of the comedy is reliant more on how many sex jokes Elvira can shoot out before the end of the episode. All the while Paige is basically the foil of her two aunts, working to keep the uptight town folks at bay. Beyond that there isn’t much of a storyline aside from someone trying to catch Elvira and or Minerva in the act, and looking for a reason to put them in jail. I would have loved to see a sleeker series with Elvira leading the life of a superstar and supernatural being, or maybe experiencing a double life as a super powered witch trying to fit into nineties city culture.
“The Elvira Show” inexplicably repeats the same beats from the 1988 movie, right down to Elvira moving in to an old house, and fending off cantankerous old neighbors. Apparently based on many reports, when “The Elvira Show” was filmed, CBS went crazy over the immense usage of boob and sex jokes and cancelled the series before it ever premiered. The pilot never even aired. Years later, oddly enough, the G rated “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” rose to mega popularity, sharing essentially the same plot and structure as the failed “The Elvira Show.” Granted, “Sabrina” was based on comic books that predate “The Elvira Show,” but it’s interesting to note nonetheless. It’s just a shame that Elvira’s show was never picked up, while “Sabrina” became a household favorite just a few years later.
Regardless, Elvira continued her long and admirable career as a horror hostess, comedienne, performer and entrepreneur, still going strong to this day. If you have twenty five minutes to spare, give “The Elvira Show” a shot. I can’t guarantee a laugh riot, but you can never go wrong with Elvira.
Is It On DVD/Blu-Ray? Absolutely not, but the pilot has circulated online for many years in its complete form (below). Hopefully someday it can be restored and included in an “Elvira” box set. Sure would be nice if Arrow included it in their upcoming special edition of “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.”
Editorials
‘Bloodstone: Subspecies II’ Revisited: A Bigger, Bolder Follow-Up to Full Moon’s Vampire Cult Classic
Horror sequels are a peculiar thing. In most cases, follow-ups to scary movies tend to retread the same formula with different victims and more over-the-top scares. This is because audiences tend to be more interested in the antagonists of these pictures than anything else, with even main characters becoming disposable when the time comes to produce a sequel.
That’s why some of the most memorable horror sequels are the ones that actually manage to hold onto interesting survivors from previous films while also pushing the story forward instead of having the same thing happen again to a different group of people. From Scream 2 to Dream Warriors (and arguably even The Exorcist III: Legion), there are quite a few of these innovative sequels to go around.
However, if there’s one franchise that deserves more attention when discussing bigger and better continuations that make the most of episodic filmmaking, it has to be Ted Nicolaou’s Subspecies.
The Full Moon classic spawned an indie horror icon, but bizarre sequel Bloodstone: Subspecies II is even more beloved than its predecessor.
Building a Bigger Vampire Saga
While the film itself takes place almost immediately after the events of the first movie, Bloodstone only entered production a couple of years after the release of the original as both Charles Band and Nicolaou weighed the pros and cons of returning to Romania to continue the series. In an effort to maximize efficiency, the team decided to invest in a trilogy where parts II and III, now fully written by Nicolaou, would be filmed simultaneously over the course of a single grueling shoot.
Much like the first Subspecies, Bloodstone’s low budget meant that the filmmakers once again had to cut corners and re-use as many of their resources as possible. Thankfully, the process was much easier this time around as Nicolaou, with the help of Romanian cinematographer Vlad Paunescu and his wife Oana, became more acquainted with local customs and made new friends. Shooting abroad still came with its own unique set of challenges due to a lack of translators and the occasional safety concerns, but the crew managed to make things work by filming things guerrilla-style and setting up shop in abandoned caves and real medieval ruins.
The director’s newfound contacts, coupled with the relative success of the first movie, meant that he was basically given free rein over an assortment of shooting locations usually considered off-limits for indie horror. That’s why Bloodstone features insanely ambitious lighting and effects work even during scenes shot in the middle of a bustling Bucharest. The filmmakers went so far as to project Radu’s Nosferatu-like shadows over local monuments as if he were a Romanian boogeyman, an idea that was actually encouraged by local cinephiles.
In fact, many of the more elaborate scenes here had originally been planned for the first movie before being discarded due to the lack of available resources. It was only with the support of Romanian fans and filmmakers that Bloodstone was able to give Radu a chance to be even more menacing the second time around.
Michelle’s Transformation Takes Center Stage
However, when it came to the American part of the crew, not everyone was able or willing to return for another round of Romanian adventuring. That’s why Radu’s human-loving half-brother Stefan (Michael Watson) is unceremoniously killed off at the beginning of the film while the role of Michelle had to be recast. Denice Duff took over for Laura Mae Tate, with the character now being joined by her sister, Rebecca, played by Melanie Shatner (yes, that Shatner).
In the finished film, we follow Michelle as she awakens to her new life as a vampire and discovers that Radu has murdered her lover. Struggling with grief and her newfound bloodlust, Michelle contacts her sister overseas, with Rebecca soon travelling to Romania on an ill-advised rescue mission. Meanwhile, Radu (Anders Hove) reaches out to his undead Mummy (Pamela Gordon, underneath heavy layers of impressive makeup effects) and promises to deliver her the coveted Bloodstone artifact while also making Michelle his eternal consort.
Revisiting the movie, I was impressed with how introspective this story is when compared to the original. The sequel assumes that you’re already familiar with the previously established characters, so the story wastes no time in exploring the immediate aftermath of the previous film’s events. From Michelle’s reluctant transformation into a creature of the night to Radu’s obvious mommy issues, Nicolaou is way more interested in pushing these characters into new and uncharted territory rather than recycling existing plot points.
Practical Effects and Gothic Atmosphere Still Impress
Yet, much like the first film, it’s Romania itself that makes the movie worth watching. The ruins of Castle Vladislav are even more majestic now, and visiting the moody streets of Bucharest with its surprisingly punk-rock nightlife made for a nice change of pace when compared to the original film’s quiet village setting. Once again, the abundance of interesting locations makes the movie feel much more expensive than it really is, with the filmmakers surrounding our characters with a living, breathing environment that would be impossible to recreate in a studio.
The increased freedom also allowed Nicolaou to flex his filmmaking muscles and tackle more ambitious blocking/composition in the sequel. The low budget and tropey script mean that the visuals don’t always work, but it’s consistently clear that this neo-expressionist style could only come from a passionate team attempting to pay homage to the shadowy horror classics of yesteryear. If the retro atmosphere isn’t enough for you, there’s enough practical gore here to satisfy even the most demanding of horror hounds!
Radu himself is also far more interesting now that Hove is more comfortable working alongside an international crew, with the actor having gone on record explaining that, while he spent more time drinking vodka than working while shooting the first movie, the sequel was a much more creatively satisfying experience for everyone involved. The character’s relationship with his abusive Mummy is also a highlight of the expanded mythology, especially since the practical effects that bring her to life are just as freaky now as they were back in ’93.
My only real gripe with the horror elements of the picture comes from the glaring absence of the diminutive stop-motion minions from the first film, though I guess the surprisingly entertaining addition of Professor Popescu (Michael Denish) and his archeological antics mostly make up for that.
Bloodstone: Subspecies II is obviously the middle chapter of a trilogy, with the ending feeling a lot less definitive than its predecessor as several plot threads are left to dangle in the wind, but I appreciate how the flick explores new ground while remaining faithful to nearly all the ideas that made the original such a good time. While I don’t think it’s as big of an improvement over the first movie as some fans make it out to be, Bloodstone is definitely worth revisiting if you’re a fan of old-fashioned vampire yarns.
Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion to this initial trilogy, Bloodlust: Subspecies III!
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